Category: Passover

Moscato Strawberries Two Ways

Ah strawberry season…you are finally here! There is nothing I love more than to walk into a supermarket and be greeted by the sweet scent of strawberries. (OK, to be honest, I’d prefer to walk past the farm stand and smell the sweet scent of freshly picked strawberries).

I wait all year for sweet berry season, when the strawberries are so naturally sweet, they’re like nature’s summer candy. I never understand those people that dip their strawberries in sugar, I mean, aren’t they sweet enough?

While I may not agree with dipping my strawberries in sugar, I do love me some macerated strawberries. Macerated strawberries are strawberries that are sprinkled with sugar to draw out the liquids and create a sweet, syrupy sauce, without cooking. I like to add a hint of balsamic vinegar to balance out the sweetness, for a truly luscious summer dessert.

Besides for balsamic macerated strawberries, I also love to macerate strawberries in some light and sweet Moscato wine. The wine infuses the strawberries with it’s peachy goodness, while the strawberries infuse the wine with their juicy sweetness. Win-win, wouldn’t you say?

This stuff is delicious straight out of a glass, but you can also serve it over ice cream, pound cake or even yogurt.

Moscato Macerated Strawberries

1 lb. strawberries
1 cup Moscato wine
3 tbsp honey

Method:

Wash and hull strawberries and cut into quarters. Place in a bowl with wine and honey and let sit in refrigerator until strawberries soften and release their juices, 2 hours-1 day.

VARIATION: try macereating other fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Now if you’re a strawberry purist and think raw strawberries should only be eaten straight out of the carton (or dipped in sour cream), I totally get you. Macerated strawberries are not for everyone! Buttttt I want to shift your attention to another preparation – that of cooked strawberries, ala strawberry sauce! Of course you can simmer up some strawberries with lots of sweet sugar for a thick strawberry syrup that’s achingly sweet. Or…or you can do something a little more glam and little less cloying, and simmer your strawberries in some honey and moscato until you get a lovely sauce that’s just perfect over angel food cake or lovely on some goat cheese ice cream.

Speaking of goat cheese ice cream, I just may have the creamiest, most delicious, sweet yet mildy tangy cheesecake ice cream coming your way. Oh yes. You’re welcome.

Moscato Strawberry Sauce

1 lb. strawberries
1 cup Moscato wine
3 tbsp honey

Method:

Wash and hull strawberries and cut into quarters. Place in a pot with wine and honey and bring to a simmer. Cook strawberries until they begin to fall apart (you can mash them a little with a fork to help them along), and the sauce thickens to a syrup, 20-30 minutes.

Related Recipes:

Moscato, honey & vanilla bean poached apricots
cherries in red wine syrup
strawberry limonana
strawberry rhubarb soup

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Zucchini Fries (Gluten Free)

We’re closing in on our series of pesto recipes with these crunchy gluten free zucchini fries! I love using zucchini because they are so low in calories and totally guilt free. To keep them diet friendly and gluten free, I used a chopped nut coating instead of breadcrumbs, and garbanzo bean flour instead of all purpose flour. But what really makes these zucchini fries different is the pesto. I could have went with eggwash to “glue” the crunchy nut coating onto the zucchini sticks, but with extra pesto in the fridge, I decided to give it a try. The results were so flavorful, I can’t imagine making it any other way!

There’s just something about fries that makes eating any vegetable fun, am I right? Good old russet potato fries used to be the only fries  on the brain but sweet potato fries have made it up there too. Personally, I’m a big fan of butternut squash fries,  and just recently, parsnips fries have topped my list of favorites as well. I must blog about those soon.

If you’re dieting and craving some crunch, these oven-fried zucchini fries are sure to hit the spot. Feel free to adapt the recipe to your specific diet! To make them dairy-free, just omit the parmesan and use more nuts instead. I like to use the same nuts as the ones in the pesto (I used Marcona almonds here), but you can experiement with pecans and walnuts too.

Zucchini Fries

2 zucchini, cut into sticks
1/4 cup flour (I used garbanzo flour)
1/2 cup pesto
2-4 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup grated parmesan
marinara sauce, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix the pesto with olive oil to thin it out. Add additional olive oil, if needed, depending on the thickness of the pesto.

Set up a dredging station with bowls of flour, pesto and ground nuts mixed with parmesan.

Dip the zucchini in flour, shake off excess and dip into pesto. Press the zucchini sticks into ground nuts/parmesan. Place on a greased cookie sheet and spray with oil (I use a Misto olive oil sprayer but you can use cooking spray). Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned and crispy.

Don’t like pesto? dip the zucchini in eggs seasoned with salt and pepper insead.

VARIATION: To make these nondairy, replace the parmesan with additional chopped nuts.

NOTE: for crisper fries, you can bake them on a rack set of a baking sheet.

Related Recipes:

zucchini parmesan chips
pesto pinwheels

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Pesto Baked Salmon

Of all the recipe requests I receive, it seems like salmon is that one dish that people get bored of rather quickly – me included. I’ve had my fill of honey mustard salmon, I’d rather not look at another piece of teriyaki salmon, and I’m all magic-salmoned-out. The good news is, I’ve got an endless variety of salmon ideas, so I can always pick something from under my chef’s hat (figuratively speaking, of course).

Truth be told, I’m really not the biggest fish person altogether. I won’t touch tilapia (bottom feeders freak me out), I don’t like sole, and I usually stay away from gefilte (is that even considered fish?). I tend to lean towards salmon, flounder, red snapper or seabass, when available. I’ve always wanted to try different types of fish, but they’re not readily available where I live. I’ve had whole bronzino in restaurants and halibut at my mom’s (she loves it!), but I’ve never tried grouper or mahimahi. Arctic Char is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever tried – I would love to find a place that carries it!

I’ve always wanted to bake my own whole fish stuffed with lemon and herbs – better yet, catch and fillet it myself. It’s just another one of those things on my bucket list – and I hope to do it one day. I’ve heard that the taste of freshly caught fish doesn’t compare to what we buy at the fishmonger. I can just imagine it smelling of the ocean istead of, well, fish. Don’t you just hate it when you open up a package and a fishy stench just hits you like a fishing rod!?

Back to the salmon – since it’s one of the few types of fish that I eat, I’m always coming up with new ways to eat it. This pesto-smothered-recipe came to me when I was on the South Beach diet and I needed to stay away from sweet sauces and sugar. For added crunch (without the panko carbs), I grind up some nuts (whichever nuts are in the pesto) and sprinkle it over the top. It adds great texture to the salmon!

Pesto Baked Salmon

salmon fillets
your favorite homemade or store-bought pesto
roughly chopped nuts (I like to use the same nuts that are in the pesto, to complement it)
grated parmesan cheese, optional
olive oil
lemon slices, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Spread pesto over the salmon slices and sprinkle with chopped nuts and parmesan (if using). Drizzle olive oil over the fish and bake for 15-20 minutes, until salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

PAREVE VARIATION: to make this dish nondairy – use a pareve pesto and omit parmesan cheese.

Related recipes:

spinach, walnut and cheddar pesto
marcona almond & basil pesto
salmon pasta salad
salmon cakes with yogurt sauce

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Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

They say necessity is the mother of invention and I guess that’s how this recipe came to be. I mean, you can’t say you’ve really tried every type of egg dish over Passover until you’ve tried scrambled hard-boiled eggs, right?

My mother has been making these on Passover for as long as I can remember. She learned to make them from my grandmother, who learned to make them from her mother. I’m not sure if this is a traditional Hungarian dish, or if my great-grandmother invented it. I imagine there wasn’t much else to eat back in Europe besides for eggs and potatoes, with a little chicken or meat on the side, if they were lucky. So creativity with eggs and potatoes was a must. How else can you explain adding hard boiled eggs to runny scrambled ones?

Eggs on eggs might sound kind of weird. Ok, it does sound really weird, but trust me when I tell you that these scrambled hard-boiled eggs are incredibly delicous. Adding hard-boiled eggs to the scrambled ones make this dish substantial enough to serve for lunch, with a side of salad or matza and cheese.

Scrambled hard-boiled eggs is just one of the interesting recipes my family whips up with eggs over Pesach. There’s also our sweet nut omelette that we’d whip up for breakfast and the mock chopped liver that begins with some deeply caramelized onions.

Aside from eggs and potatoes, sauteed onions are the other quintessential Passover ingredient. Since we don’t use spices or processed ingredients over the holiday, sauteed onions are a crucial base for adding flavor to every dish. These scrambled hard-boiled eggs are no exception.

Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

2 tbsp oil or shmaltz
1 small onion, thinly sliced into half rings
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and mashed
4 raw eggs
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Saute the onions in oil until deeply golden and caramelized. Add the mashed eggs and saute for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. whisk the raw eggs and season with salt and pepper, Pour over the cooked eggs mixture and stir until scrambled but still slightly wet (but not runny). Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 -5 servings

 

Related Recipes:

how to make perect hard-boiled eggs
Passover sweet nut omelette
Passover baked portobello shakshuka

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Sugared Almonds

Growing up, one of our family’s Passover customs was to use liquid sugar, or simple syrup, in place of regular sugar in our recipes. It was a stringency brought back from Europe by our great-grandparents, and we continue to keep it, year after year.

The night before Passover, my mother boils up a vat of water and sugar until thickened and pours it through layers of cheesecloth into mason jars. Not being able to use regular sugar on Pesach has it’s challenges. Like when you want to bake cookies, or cake. But it sure has it’s advantages too. Like when we want to make easy sorbet, quick lemonade, or a mix up a pitcher of sangria. These classic sugared almonds are another advantage.

Sugared nuts are different from candied or glazed nuts, which are oftened tossed with egg white and butter for a sticky coating. Simple 2-ingrediented sugar coated nuts are cooked down until the sugar crystallizes and forms a crunchy crust on the nuts. You may have seen (or smelled) them on the streets of New York, in those  Nuts 4 Nuts street carts.

The great part about making sugared nuts is that they’re a blank canvas for all flavors and combos. You can toss in some cinnamon (my favorite!) add a hint of sea salt (‘cuz I love sweet and salty!) or throw in a pinch of  cayenne for a little kick.

My favorite part about this kosher for Passover recipe is the great feeling I get from making them entirely from scratch. Cracking the nuts brings me back to the days of old, imagining what Pesach was like for my ancestors, as they prepared simple foods made from scratch, a custom we we have carried on for generations.

Sugared Almonds

2 cups raw almonds (or nuts of choice)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
optional add-ins: vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, sea salt or cayenne

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Add the almonds and continue to cook, stirring constantly as the sugar thickens. After about 4 minutes, the water will evaporate and the sugar with crystalize on the nuts. Continue to stir until the sugar begins to turn light brown and caramelize. Watch the nuts carefully because they can quickly start to burn at this point. Pour onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and stir in  any spices of your choice. Bake for approximately 10 minutes until toasted and fragrant. (You can skip this step but I find that when starting with raw nuts, they need that extra bit of roasting for added crunch).  Set the nuts aside, they will get crunchier as they cool.

VARIATION: Try adding almond, coconut or vanilla extract to the sugar syrup or toss with the spices of your choice.

NOTE: If you want even more of a sugar coating, double the sugar syrup recipe and continue as above (the evaporation process will take longer).

 

Other Passover recipes:

chicken pot pie Passover croquettes
rainbow pommes anna
mock chopped liver

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